(Ecofin Agency) - Rwanda has passed its first national petroleum law to revive investments and exploration in the oil sector, as the country plans to share regional oil production prospects.

This is coming after Kenya and Uganda confirmed the discovery of oil. Rwanda plans to bypass changing the law once oil is also discovered on its terrain, as the new law is similar with the petroleum laws in the other two countries.

Oil exploration was originally carried out by Canadian-based Vanoil which for six years, explored the northern part of Lake Kivu.

The company withdrew from contract signed with the government in 2013, after encountering some dry wells and suffering heavy expenses.

However, new private oil explorers are scheduled to recommence the drilling of the sediment rocks of Lake Kivu by the beginning of 2017, as Rwanda plans to become the fourth country with known oil reserves.

“No investment company is currently dealing in exploration of oil in Rwanda. What we have now is a government project exploring for seismic data on Lake Kivu, mostly in the northern part. We identified features describing a possible petroleum basin, but nothing is conclusive yet. We have six private companies bidding for exploration activities and are hopeful that with the new petroleum law in place, a qualified company will begin works next year,” Evode Imena (photo), Minister for mines said.

He added that Vanoil upon withdrawal, left vital exploration data behind. This data identifies potential petroleum basins in Lake Kivu.

“We are optimistic. We can never be sure before drilling and getting oil in our hands, but information we have so far shows that there is a good chance. We are evaluating proposals from six exploration companies specializing in seismic shooting and data interpretation. So far no contract has been signed yet and our team is working on finding out the best proposal,” he said.

Under this new law governing petroleum exploration and production activities, an exploration licence is effective for three years while a production shareholder is granted a licence effective for about 25 years, the East African reports.

Anita Fatunji